A lot of Saturday mornings, I will go into the office for a few hours. The phone is quiet and usually there are no more than one or two other people around. In fact, the entire street my office is on usually has no more than a handful of people around. This morning, I was the only person in the office so it was a good time to catch up on things and to have a little bit of time for thinking I guess I will say.

Mid-morning, I walked out the back office door in order to get in my car and drive downtown to the post office. As I was getting in my car, someone called to me. Apparently they had been at the front door of the office, unable to get in of course. He approached me and asked me if I knew of a place where he could go in order to "get back on his feet," or something to that effect. He seemed calm and mild-mannered. I asked him where he was from. He told me that he was from a town just a few minutes away. But he explained that he was hitting the road, determined to just wander around and find himself.

I mentioned a place in town that I know of which is a joint ministry of several churches. He had never heard of it and, of course, didn't really have a way to get there. He was on foot and it is a very difficult place to give directions to. I then suggested the Salvation Army. He explained that he had been there the previous day. Apparently they had put him up for the night at one of the local "hotels" near my office. He told me that they told him they couldn't help him beyond that.

At this point, I didn't know what to do. He seemed like a good guy, even though maybe his thought processes were a little off. (We were perhaps a pretty good match in that respect.) I offered to drive him to the church ministry I knew of but I warned him that I wasn't sure if they'd be open.

On the way there, I learned that his name is James and he's 29 years old. He was born about 30 miles away from here and really doesn't have much in the way of family that he associates with. He was carrying a couple of backpacks with him and he had a long tree branch that he was carrying sort of as a walking stick. He explained that he didn't know why he had the stick but he had it. I suggested to him that, if the center where I was taking him wasn't open, I could take him to the police station and they would help him find what he needed. He grimaced at that suggestion so I didn't press it. He really wasn't explaining what he needed. He never asked for money and in fact indicated that he'd gotten some money from the Salvation Army. He did mentioned that maybe, at some point in his journey, he would get a job for awhile.

We got to the center. There were a couple of cars there so I dropped him off. He seemed content with that even though I warned him that I wasn't certain they were open. I showed him where downtown was and indicated to him again that the police would be glad to help him find what he needs.

Before we parted ways, I offered some words of encouragement. He told me that he knows and loves Jesus. James touched my heart.

A few minutes after I left the center, I realized that I still had his walking stick in my car.

Honestly, I don't know what to think of this all. It was almost surreal. My office is in an industrial park. People don't walk around there normally. James really couldn't tell me what he was looking for. He spoke clearly but yet things weren't entirely clicking. At one point he asked me where I was born and I told him. He asked me if they have any fish there. James has never gone fishing but he'd like to someday. James did not seem agitated or aggravated or sad. He just seemed to be wondering and wandering. He doesn't like it when people call him "Jimmy" because that makes him feel like a little kid.

I don't know if I did everything I could have for James. I don't feel bad about what I did do for him but yet I really don't know that I helped him. He seemed happy enough when we parted ways. If all he was really looking for was someone who would talk to him and try to help him, then he got what he was looking for. If he was looking for more than that, then I am afraid that I failed him.

One thing that this experience showed me though -- despite being relatively "plugged into" the social services available in the town where I work, I honestly didn't know what to do for James. I did the best I knew and I pray that he will be okay.

As I later pulled into my garage at home, my first inclination was to throw out his walking stick but, you know what? I think that I will keep it ... as a reminder of the wonderers and the wanderers of this world. May I learn better how to give them what they're looking for.